Those
who study truth as taught by those who have become Enlightened see the
limitations of conventional psychology quite clearly. Studying the
works of Freud is one thing, but a Zen Master is on an entirely
different level and can solve many more problems, and generally with
greater ease because their understanding of the mind and reality is
much deeper. Freud was still identified with being the mind, while the
Enlightened are identified with the Awareness that is able to silently
watch the mind from an outside perspective. The first one thinks about
what the truth might be, while the other is the Truth, and therefore
truly knows the Truth. True knowing involves being that which is to be
known, otherwise it's nothing more than mere speculation and
intellection. This article is for those who are ready to go beyond the
intellect.

The brain is basically a computer that
automatically plays the programs (society's beliefs) that are put into
it. The neural pathways, thought processes, and mental associations of
the brain become ingrained and habitual, thus perpetuating the same
behaviors and thought processes over and over again. Just as a drop of
water will continuously and repetitively flow down the same pathway
after the first drop originates the way, the energy flowing through the
brain's neural network will do the same.

The good
news however, is that we can change those neural pathways; first, by
realizing that we can, second, by wanting to change the brain's thought
processes, and third, by choosing to adopt different (more positive)
ways of perceiving "reality". The only way to change those repetitive
thought processes, and to create new neural pathways, is to let go of
the mental concepts that one currently thinks are "true". In doing so,
energy starts flowing throughout the brain in different directions to
different parts of the brain, thus contributing to new neural pathways
and new ways of thinking and perceiving. The more we purposefully think
in a different manner, the easier it becomes, and eventually that
becomes the brain's new way of automatically thinking. With this
understanding it becomes quite apparent why Buddha said "What we think,
we become". When we focus on the negative, we perpetuate the negative.
When we focus on the positive, we perpetuate the positive.

As
long as one thinks their current physical sense and brain perceptions
of "reality" are "the truth", one will never come to realize otherwise.
So when a person says "that's just the way I am" or "I can't help it, I
am what I am", that's not quite true. They are who they are because of
what they are currently aware of, and because of the way they choose to
think and perceive. Absolutely everything is a choice, but people don't
realize it. The problem is that they simply aren't aware that they can
change the mind's way of thinking, and that's because they identify
those thoughts as being "me" or "important", when they're not.

The
heart pumps blood all by itself without you doing it, the lungs breath
air all by themselves without you doing it, and the brain associates
concepts with other concepts all by itself. The mind is thinking
completely on its own. It has nothing to do with "you". If you look
inside even for a brief minute you'll see that words, thoughts and
thinking are completely automatic. The brain works all by itself, which
means that you are not the doer of deeds, nor the thinker of thoughts.

The
body is a collective community of individually living cells that are
all co-operating together to make a larger whole. The brain's neural
network, and its thoughts and thinking are just another part of that
overall cellular functioning. So if the mind and body are working all
by themselves as a result of cells doing work, why do we identify the
mind's thoughts and the body's actions as being "me"? Are we the mind
and body, or are we the Energy/Life/Consciousness/Awareness within the
body that is aware of Itself as existing? Are we the mind and body, or
are we the Awareness that is watching the body/mind's automatic
functioning? Are we the doer and thinker, or are we the Silent Observer?

Out
of being identified with the body/mind, we are being controlled by it.
We are enslaved by it because we falsely identify it as being "me".
This is a part of the evolution of consciousness that we all go
through. The ultimate goal of life, and really the only one worth
pursuing, is to set oneself free from this false identification that
creates suffering.

You
are the silent, formless Awareness that is aware of the mind, its
random babblings, and its irrelevant thinking. That thinking is
irrelevant because Silence is All-Knowing, which explains perfectly why
people experience sudden epiphanies and intuition in moments of inner
quietude. Epiphanies happen in the Silence of the mind, not because of
the mind, but the mind likes to mistakenly take credit for those
brilliant ideas that come out of seemingly nowhere. The mind thinks it
"knows", but only Silence actually does.

Words,
concepts, and perceptions have nothing to do with Reality because they
are only based on the interpretations of human anatomy. Every different
species of animal on the planet perceives their reality differently
because their physical senses and brain work differently. A dog's sense
of smell will give it a completely different sense of "reality" than
that of any other species on the planet, an elephant's sense of hearing
will give it a completely different sense of reality than that of any
other kind of animal, and a fly's sense of vision will be entirely
different than that of any other type of animal. Every different dog or
human will also sense and perceive things differently than every other
dog and human as well.

To think that a human's
perception, or your individual mind's perception, of "reality" is "the
truth" would mean that every other living thing on the planet that has
a different perception of reality is "false". That simply cannot be
true. If it's all relative, all subject to change, and is only based on
one's level of current awareness, then it's all irrelevant. To think
that the mental concepts in one's own brain are "the truth" is nothing
more than the mind's egoic wishful thinking. The ego has a superiority
complex. It likes to be "right", and it will try to perpetuate that
notion in whatever way it can. Individual perceptions, opinions,
concepts, and thoughts are not at all important, but the
ego/mind/brain/intellect likes to think that they are, and it often
sees this kind of information as a threat even though it's the solution
to one's problems. There comes a time when we eventually realize that
thinking is the original underlying source of all conflict, hardship,
and suffering, and at that point we choose to start letting the
thinking process dissipate as it arises, or before it arises.

Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder because of the mind's perceptions of, and
beliefs about, so-called "reality". Things are only seductive,
attractive, and tempting out of an automatic result of biology,
anatomy, and unawareness of higher levels of truth. Without the mind
interfering, everything just Is; nothing more, nothing less, and
there's nothing wrong with that. Existence is perfect exactly as it is
and it doesn't need the opinions of a faulty neural network running on
autopilot to tell it that it is or isn't. It's faulty in that it can't
decipher truth from falsehood, but at the same time it's perfect
because it is what it wants to be. People think what they do because
that's what they want to be "the truth". Everybody can believe what
they want to believe, even if it means their own suffering.

"There
is nothing either good or bad, but only thinking makes it so." -
William Shakespeare, Hamlet

The only Absolute
Reality is that Awareness Is, and as soon as the mind tries to
conceptualize that "Is" into a thought form, it's already falling into
error. All words and concepts beside "Is" are a mental distortion of
Reality based on fantasy, fiction, and the wishful thinking of the
mind. Actually, even "Is" is a concept that is best to be let go of in
order to realize the ultimate in Peace of mind. Why? Because Silence of
mind means Peace of mind.

So "what is
Enlightenment?" you might be asking at this point. Well, it's the
permanent cessation of all concepts, thoughts, and perceptions of the
ego/mind/brain/intellect, and it's the full-blown realization that
one's true identity is actually formless, timeless, non-local,
all-encompassing, all-knowing pure Awareness. And don't even think
about trying to imagine that with the mind!